Whether we have a website or a blog, we often ask ourselves, “How can I get my site found?”.

We either learn SEO (search engine optimization) or hire an expert, begin using it and carefully choose search terms relevant to our content. We sit back and anxiously wait for the traffic to start rolling in.

Ironically it’s often not the well thought out search strings that drives traffic to our blogs/websites.

Sometimes it’s the unexpected.

Today’s Lesson

Recently I was analyzing my statistics to see how people find my blog. One would think common search terms would have something to do with “blog”, as I have the word “blog” twice in my title and blog about blogging, but that’s not always the case.

Here are some recent search strings that brought visitors to my site.

“color me gone – color me gone” This search string took this person to a post I did when I was being interviewed on Jeremy’s Day’s blog, Insight Writer. The name of my post is “Color Me Gone” which announced to my readers I wasn’t here, but could be found on Jeremy’s blog.

“frisky libriarian” Although the person using this search string may be looking for something more erotic,  it takes them to any of my posts when a commenter who uses the online name of “Frisky Librarian” responds.

“lazy people” I’m not sure why someone would be searching for lazy people, however the post they landed on would have taught them how to get “Increased Search Engine Traffic For Lazy People” – a guest post written by Catherine Lawson.

“twitter why do i care?” This sounds like a search I would do. In fact, I wrote a post titled “Twitter – Do You REALLY Care What I’m Doing” asking the same question. Since then, I’ve joined Twitter.

“the hunter who doesn’t do his homework” I had to giggle at this one. I was puzzled why someone would use these particular words, but they did land on a guest post written by Hunter Nuttall titled:Twitter – Social Media’s Hidden Gem. It’s a fabulous lesson on Twitter, so even if they didn’t learn anything about hunters, they got to meet a guy named  Hunter who did hand out homework to those who read the post.

“candy store layout” I’m assuming this person either has or is interested in owning a candy store, however I’m sure they were disappointed when the landed on the post  Blog Visitors – Like Kids In A Candy Store where we discussed the navigation of our blogs and if is easy for visitors to find previous posts we’ve written.   The article may not have helped them, but I did include a photo taken inside a candy store.

“when to tell if your bff likes you” This search string puzzled me. BFF stands for “best friends forever”. Wouldn’t you know your best friend likes you? Unfortunately my post BTW Your BFF Is ROTFL @ Your SERPs wouldn’t have answered their question, but they would have learned more online abbreviations.

“husband don’t show affection to wives” Here’s a search string that can be interrupted read several ways. 1) Husband – DON’T show affection to wives!!! – as a command. 2) A wife isn’t getting affection from their husband, or 3) I’m looking at the “s” on “wives” and wondering “are they talking about multiples?”  Hmmm…. Anyway, what this person landed on was my post titled. Wife Sues Husband’s Blog For Alienation of Affection, a hypothetical situation where a wife feels abandoned by her husband because his blog takes up so much of his time.

When I look at how people conduct online searches, I realize there are millions of possibilities. We often get hung up on using search strings WE think should be popular, when in truth, we’re only guessing.

Today’s Assignment

How are people finding your blog or website?

Is it what you expected?

Or do we have search engine optimization all wrong?

Please feel free to share your findings. I’m guessing the results will be interesting.

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